Abstraction at centre stage in new group exhibition at Artyli Gallery in Sandton

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

On Saturday, March 22, 2025, I was one of the people that attended the opening of a new group exhibition at a Sandton Gallery based in the mall.

For me one of the reasons I went there is that often this particular gallery features thought provoking work of artists, especially when it is a group exhibition, such as the one that opened on that day.

The exhibition was preceded by a panel discussion facilitated by well-known critic and author Ashraf Jamal in which some of the participating artists took part. I decided to give the panel discussion a miss, and this is because I wanted to immerse myself in the work on display, instead of listening to the discussion as the artists contextualised their work as they tried to make the audience navigate their world.

The thing is with abstract work, it is better to let the work speak for itself, and that is as the art on display actively engages with the mind, the heart and the feeling of the viewer. Trying to interpret abstract art is almost an impossible task for anybody, as how a viewer interprets and engages with the work in front of their eyes is an individual endeavour, and therefore does not need an interpreter, including the artist who created the work. This is because meaning making is an individual thing, and each individual sees something different in an artwork from the next viewer. One’s feelings about a particular artwork on the wall is also different from the next person. Such is the power of abstract work, especially good work, such as the ones I saw on Saturday.

I must however state though that having the late Samson Mnisi and Thokozani Mthiyane exhibiting in the same space was a master stroke on the part of the curators. Their praxis delves into the spiritual realm, tapping deep into the energy of that realm, and one feels the energy from both artists through simply viewing their works. I therefore found myself going back and forth to both of these two artists’ work as I tried to make sense of their world.

Both artists have perfected their art practice to an extent that even from a distance you can tell who the creator is. In other words, they have found their artistic voice in their practice.

“Artyli Gallery is excited to announce the opening of a new exhibition, Kindreds in Abstraction. As the title suggests, the exhibition will foreground the art form of abstraction. The genre of abstraction has become prominent within contemporary African art, precisely because as Paul Klee explains – in times of uncertainty, artists turn toward abstraction for interpretation and sense-making of happenings in the world. Essentially, there arises a seeking for a medium that would allow unrestrained expression.

Portraiture and figuration have defined African art, because African artists both in Africa and the diaspora are often critiqued for not being political, for just making art for arts sake. However, abstraction has facilitated an alternative – a more covert reflection on the human condition and experience, particularly through patterns and symbols that speak on existential thematic concerns found in philosophy, politics and psychology. Abstraction can be said to be the consciousness of the artist made manifest.

Writing on abstraction in his new book ‘African Art: The ARAK Collection’ (2025), South African art critic and cultural theorist Ashraf Jamal states that “If, prejudicially, it is supposed that abstraction is a rarefied ideal, and as such, quintessentially civilised, it follows that Africa and its artists, assigned an objectified content—one that can be seen and known from the outside, without depth, other than some menacing obscurity — might not be considered eligible, let alone capable, of exploring a more otiose and enigmatic world,” the gallery states in its curatorial statement.

The Kindreds in Abstraction exhibition features intriguing abstract artworks by Samson Mnisi, Layziehound Coka, Thokozani Mthiyane, Sibusiso Ngwazi, Asanda Kupa, and Hussein Salim, in addition to sculptures by Talia Goldsmith.

.Kindreds in Abstraction’ is currently on at Artyli Gallery, Shop 35 & 35 Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton.